Baillieu blames Labor for slow progress

Ted Baillieu’s government says it has been left to clean up Labour’s mess.
Photo Penny Stephens

by
Jason Murphy

Victoria’s struggling Baillieu government has blamed its predecessor for its inability to win the confidence of voters.

The November-December Newspoll showed the Labor opposition leading 55-45 in two-party terms. The Baillieu government made up no ground from the previous poll, in September-October.

Acting Premier
Peter Ryan
said responsible economic management was top priority, and there was limited capacity for big announcements given Labor’s legacy and reduced GST receipts.

“Most of the time we have had to play catch-up in the time we have been the government. For a lot of that time we have been cleaning up the mess," he said.

“To do that job is something we are still engaged in, and in some instances will be engaged in for some time to come – the desal plant is 28 years."

The Baillieu government, which holds power with a one-seat majority, must change the impression that it is inactive if it is to avoid being swept from office when Victoria returns to the polls in late 2014.

The impression of inaction was amplified on Friday when it was revealed the government had considered a plan in 2011 to create a bus rapid transit system to improve public transport access to the airport in advance of a rail link.

The information came from documents obtained by Fairfax newspapers under Freedom of Information laws.

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The government has since decided on a multi-year study into rail access to the airport, for which it provided $6.5 million in the 2010-11 budget. It says the study referred to in the documents that were released has been superseded by the present study, which aims to define how a rail service to Melbourne Airport could operate and identify the best route

The Victorian government suffered another blow on Friday when it lost its court challenge to a federal government ban on cattle grazing in the high country. It had asked the Federal Court to review a decision by the federal minister to reject a trial that allowed 400 cattle to graze in the Alpine National Park.

But on Friday, Justice Susan Kenny dismissed the challenge, saying none of the Victorian government’s four grounds for seeking a judicial review were successful. The trial had been promised by the Baillieu government at the 2010 election.